Senior Staff

As President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Jernigan founded Select Health of South Carolina, Inc., the first Medicaid health plan in South Carolina in 1995 to help low income families increase access to healthcare in our state. Under his leadership, the health plan has expanded to all 46 counties in South Carolina, and membership has grown to nearly 200,000 members in 13 years. Membership figures include those covered by the company’s Medicaid product, First Choice, and the children’s health insurance plan product, First Choice Kids.

Cindy Helling serves as Select Health of South Carolina’s Executive Director and has been employed by the company since its founding in 1995. She oversees Select Health's operations throughout the state-wide service area. Ms. Helling has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, working for community hospitals and managed care organizations in Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina.

Kathy Stone has more than 30 years of varied experience in the healthcare environment. Before accepting her current position, Mrs. Stone worked as Senior Director of Communications.

Fred M. Volkman, M.D., joined Select Health of South Carolina as the Chief Medical Officer in September 2007. He oversees the ongoing growth and expansion of Select Health's medical initiatives.

Dr. Stuart Hamilton has served as Medical Director for Select Health of South Carolina since the company's inception. Dr. Hamilton is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center in Columbia, S.C. Hamilton has formerly worked as an area Pediatrician for the U.S. Public Health Service. He is also a Lieutenant Colonel (retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps.

Dr. James Baldwin serves as Select Health of South Carolina’s Associate Medical Director. In addition to his duties at Select Health, Dr. Baldwin maintains a private practice for Internal Medicine in Charleston. He is also an active member of the American College of Physicians, the Charleston County Medical Society and the South Carolina Medical Society.

Dr. William Burnham has spent the past 25 years practicing medicine in South Carolina. He came to Select Health from a family medicine/urgent care practice in Mount Pleasant. In the past, he has served as medical director for a rural hospital emergency room, hospital chief of staff and county EMS and rescue squad medical control officer.

Tina Davis joined Select Health in 2001 as a Marketing Supervisor and was promoted to Marketing Manager in 2003.  Ms. Davis began her career in Medicaid managed care as a Patient Advocate for a health center in Pennsylvania where she built a Member Services Department from the ground up.

Philip Fairchild joined the Select Health of South Carolina team in August of 2001 and has more than 10 years of healthcare experience including direct patient care, claims, quality and training management and provider relations.

John McFadden joined Select Health in 2006 and is responsible for the technology that is utilized including computers, phones and network as well as data reporting within the organization.

Sean Popson joined Select Health of South Carolina in 1996. Ten of her 15 years in accounting have been spent at local hospitals. Just prior to joining Select Health, Mrs. Popson was the controller at a community hospital in Mt. Pleasant, where she assisted several physicians' practices in making the transition to being managed by the hospital.

As Director of Communications, Tracy Pou oversees statewide branding, media relations, advertising, presentations, publications and internal messaging.

Michelle Powell joined Select Health in 2003 and has nearly 20 years of experience with expertise in compensation management, benefits administration and human resource policy and procedure development. As Director of Human Resources, Ms. Powell's department has been instrumental in the achievement of WELCOA's gold level status for the company's wellness program, Select Wellness, and she has been appointed to the WELCOA’s National Advisory Panel.

Lillian Suarez came to Select Health of South Carolina in 2000 as a Marketing Supervisor. She was promoted to Regional Director of Marketing in 2008, and she has been instrumental in leading Select Health's sales efforts for many years.

Kevin Vaughan joined Select Health in 2006 with more than 18 years of healthcare experience including 14 years of experience in call center management. At Select Health, Mr. Vaughan is responsible for the plans’ call center, member education and member outreach efforts.

Peggy Vickery began working as the Director of Network Management in July 2001. She is responsible for recruiting and contracting providers in new and existing counties to ensure network adequacy and negotiating contracts with physicians, hospitals and ancillary providers. She is also in charge of provider servicing and retention and presents training and education programs to large provider groups and associations.

Lelis Welch joined Select Health of South Carolina in September 2008. Welch comes to Select Health with 19 years experience in the managed care industry. She has held management roles within utilization management and case management for the past 11 years, 10 of which involved working within a Medicaid managed care environment for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.

Herbert Weldon, Jr., joined Select Health of South Carolina in March 2008 and is responsible for leading the company’s strategic business planning and market expansion efforts in the southeast United States region.